"The fastest stage of my life"

Dakar 2020 | Stage 7 | Riyadh > Wadi Al Dawasir
January 12 ^th 2020 - 14:39 [GMT + 3]

Matthias Walkner had yet to learn about the death of Paulo Gonçalves when he was asked about his performance in stage 7, in which he was runner-up to Joan Barreda.

"Four and a half hours for 550 kilometres. I think it was the fastest stage of my life. The average speed, I think, was about 130 km/h. You have to concentrate and the sand makes things less visible. It was long… I got cold at the start of the rally and things haven't got much better since. I ate a lot of dust and, with the cold weather, it destroyed my throat. In the last 100 k I felt really bad."